How can I execute several maven plugins within a single phase and set their respective execution order?

Plugins bound to the same phase should be executed in the same order as they are listed in the POM. Under certain circumstances (e.g. if you bind the same plugin to a phase twice, like the antrun plugin), this may not occur but this is a bug (see MNG-2258 and the related issue MNG-3719).

I had the same problem. look at How to perform ordered tasks in Maven2 build. for some reason the different goals bound to a phase are stored in a hash map or other unordered structure which makes the execution order random. my solution was to spread the tasks to different phases but I dont think there is much sence for it in your case (nsis packaging is not pre integration test). you could do one of the following:

1) try your luck and see if Maven chosses the right order for you (you probably tried that already)

2) use standalone plugin - run the goal outside the lifecycle. something like: mvn package org.codehaus.mojo:nsis-maven-plugin:1.0:compile.

3) separate them into module: have a parent pom containing two sub modules, one - your war project and the other for the nsis project.

4) use a custom lifecycle by changing the type, in your case you can use "exe". this is done by using a custom plugin extension (guide to using extension)

5) use the jetspeed-mvn-maven-plugin. I have never used it but it seems relevant to your needs.

hope this gives you new ideas.

Ronen